Defiance College and Yellow Jacket Athletic Director Rudy Yovich announced the hiring of Scott Cutter to take over the men’s basketball program as head coach.
“I’m tremendously excited to be the next men’s basketball coach at Defiance College,” said Cutter. “I appreciate the opportunity given to me by Mr. Yovich, and the search committee. I feel fortunate to be part of a great institution with dedicated faculty, coaches and support staff that all have the students best interest in mind.”
“I personally want to thank the members of the search committee, our athletic staff and all of the stakeholders that participated in the search process,” said Yovich. “Not only did we want to find the right individual to take care of the young men in this program, but we also wanted to find the right person to represent Defiance Men’s Basketball on our campus and within our community. We have done that with the hiring of Scott Cutter.”
Cutter becomes the 21st head coach in program history and will take over for Tom Heil who helped guide DC to a Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference regular-season and tournament championship lin 2014-15, including the program’s first victory in NCAA Tournament history with a win against defending national champion University of Wisconsin-Whitewater.
“I’m stepping into a program that has had a great deal of success in recent years, including back to back HCAC Championships,” said Cutter. “There have been tremendous coaches and players that have helped make Defiance a program that the school and community take lot of pride in. It’s our job to work hard and continue that tradition of success. I feel that Defiance has as good of support as there is in small college athletics from students, faculty, alumni, and the community. It makes it special to know that so many people care about our team’s success!”
Cutter comes to Defiance from HCAC rival Hanover (Ind.) College and is no stranger to the DC community. He began his coaching career at DC where he served as an assistant coach from 2003-07. In his first stint with the Yellow Jackets as an assistant, the men’s basketball team posted 67 wins, including a 19-8 mark during the 2007-08 season in which the Yellow Jackets captured the HCAC regular-season title after finishing as tournament runners-up the previous season. Cutter helped recruit two players who went on to be named HCAC Players of the Year and four first-team All-HCAC players.
“It’s also a privilege to be a coach in Northwest Ohio,” added Cutter. It’s a great area for basketball at all levels. There are a lot of tremendous coaches and programs at the high school level in this part of the state and it’s a key area for us to have success from a recruiting perspective.”
“Scott’s familiarity with the HCAC, our recruiting base and the athletic department as a whole will serve him very well as he continues moving the program forward,” added Yovich. “He has honed his coaching skills under one on the most respected coaches in our conference, so we are excited to see what the future holds for Coach Cutter and our student-athletes.”
The success Cutter had at DC carried over to Hanover where the Panthers finished in the top-five in the conference every season (2009-15) he was there, including a stretch of four straight seasons as conference runners-up (2009-13). He helped lead the teams to a pair of 19-win seasons highlighted by a berth into the NCAA Division III Tournament during the 2010-11 season. In addition to his many roles and duties as assistant, Cutter also served as the program’s recruiting coordinator.
Prior to coaching at Hanover, Cutter spent one season (2008-09) as an assistant with the Ohio Wesleyan University men’s program where the Battling Bishops finished with a 17-8 overall record and placed second in the North Coast Athletic Conference.
Cutter attended Mount St. Joseph University for two years before moving on to Wilmington College where he earned a degree in business management in 2002. During his coaching stay at DC, he also received his Master’s degree in sports science education in 2007. As an undergrad at MSJ and Wilmington, Cutter played on the men’s basketball team for all four combined years.
